Erik Lindberg

Psychologic factors in the etiology of amalgam illness

Eleven patients with amalgam illness aged 33-50 years were investigated by psychodynamic methods. Six of them, all women, were dental nurses and hygienists exposed to amalgam/mercury both from their own dental fillings and occupationally. Four men and one woman were exposed only to amalgam/mercury from their own fillings. Assays of mercury in urine samples and in the ambient air during work routines involving the heaviest exposure indicated that the exposure was far below the levels at which even subclinical symptoms could be indicated by psychometric tests. The psychologic investigation indicated that the symptoms of amalgam illness were psychosomatic. All patients had experienced important psychic traumata in close connection with the first appearance of symptoms. It can be concluded from the psychodynamic dialogues that they had not been able to mourn for a loss in an adequate manner and that the body had been forced to symbolize the great pain in their souls.

Experiences in the Psychotherapy of Rheumatoid Arthritis

According to the relevant literature, psychological factors may play an important role in the onset and clinical course of rheumatoid arthritis. This is the first study reported in which the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis is based on such factors. Twenty-seven arthritics were treated psychotherapeutically and a close connection was seen between the course of the psychotherapy and the development of the somatic disease.

Psychotherapeutic Examination of Patients with Suspected Chronic Solvent Intoxication

A group of 13 patients, most of them house or industrial painters with strong evidence of chronic solvent intoxication were given psychotherapy, with a view to ascertaining whether psychological factors may have contributed to the signs and symptoms that had persisted after the acute manifestations had either diminished or ceased altogether. All the patients were found to have experienced severe psychic traumata during their first year of life-the preverbal period. This had resulted in defective development of language, which was reflected in a lack of words for expressing emotions; instead these were expressed nonverbally as somatic symptoms. The results of the study indicate unequivocally that in none of the 13 patients were the symptoms due to the toxic effect of solvents, all of them having a psychological rather than a somatic causation. After an analysis of the symptoms by means of an established psychotherapeutic method they diminished in severity and a number of the patients recovered completely.